Installing Windows 7 on HP Tablet TC1100

I love gadgets; I especially love gadgets that help me be more organized which in turn helps me be more productive.

The HP Tablet TC1100 originally came out in 2003 and at that time the operating system was Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, which added the Tablet and Ink capabilities. Since then Microsoft has made tremendous improvements to the ink and hand writing capabilities in Vista and now in Windows 7. HP however does not have compatible drivers for Windows 7. Why you say? Good question, I can’t think of a good reason for this. Thankfully a kind soul took it upon himself to tinker with it and get it working. The below link documents his labors to get Windows 7 installed on the Tablet. Why would you want to do this? Well, Windows 7 totally rocks on the HP Tablet and is totally worth upgrading. The main reason is the performance, the ink features, and handwriting recognition. Awesome stuff.

Read the following article from MobilePCWiki to get an overview of the installation of Windows 7 on the Tablet. The author goes through and explains in great detail the process. The installation notes cover the RC version of Windows 7, but I have gotten to work with the Windows 7 RTM Home Premium and Ultimate.

Since the Tablets do not come with a DVD drive you will need to either attach an external DVD or create a Windows 7 Installation USB Stick. The following website IntoWindows link walks you through creating a USB installation stick.

The following will allow you to boot from the USB stick. By default you will not be able to boot from the USB Stick.

Put the USB Stick in the USB Slot on the computer.

Start up the Tablet and hit the jog dial and Launch System Setup.

Scroll over to the Advanced Tab

Scroll down to Boot Order and hit Enter

Select Hard Drive and hit Enter

Hit the -/+ to move up the USB drive to the top of the list.

Hit F10 to Save and Exit.

System should automatically boot to the USB drive.

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HOW TO TAKE APART COMPUTER TO GET AT INTERNAL MEMORY

The TC1100 has two memory slots and by default comes with 512MB of Ram. This is really not enough ram to run Windows 7 on. You can easily upgrade the memory to 1.5gb by adding a 1gb chip to the external slot (User Accessible Area). To upgrade the machine to 2gb, which I highly recommend you will need to take apart the Tablet to get at the slot. I have done this 3 times without issue, just take your time and review the great photos from the below forum discussion on the subject.

There are no specific Vista or Windows 7 drivers for the HP TC1100 Tablet. You must use the old XP Tablet PC drivers. The trick is to install the drivers in XP Compatibility mode. You do this by right clicking the file, select properties, then click on the Compatibility tab. Under the Compatibility mode put a check under “Run this program in compatibility mode for” and select Windows XP SP2. Click Apply and then Ok. Double click or right click and select Run as Administrator.

If you have the HP Compaq W500 Compatible 802.11/a/b/g [Part #: 349985-001], you can install the following HP Driver after the OS has been installed.

SP32579 – HP WLAN W400-W500 Driver for Windows [2006-05]

If you have the HP Compaq Laptop Wireless 2100 802.11b Mini-PCI Card [Part #: 348997-001], you will have to manually connect computer to NETWORK with Ethernet and run Windows Update to get the Wireless working.

To determine which one you have you will need to unscrew one of the back covers and look at the HP Part Number.

Hmmm. I have three tablets and have done multiple W7 installs and have not had a problem with standby or sleep mode. I did have problems with the screens locking up before I installed the update video driver (hack).

Does everything look alright in the computer management/device manager? Verify that the driver for the Display Adapter [NVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go 32M] is version 8.2.1.2 .

Go into the Power Options and restore default settings to see if that makes any difference.

Couple things that I would try if this was mine.
1. Reinstall the Updated Video Driver (hack)
2. I would run through a new install and see if that fixes

Let me know how it goes. I’ll keep looking to see if find something else.

Hi, Really struggling to get the Pen to work with Windows 7, please can someone help? I’ve tried running the installation files as admin and in compatibility mode but doesn’t seem to work. Can someone please walk me through the steps I have to take?

Rob,
Yeah, I had problems getting the pen to work as well. Want to see the system recognizes the pen. Let me know what you find. I’ll try to help in any way that I can.

Go into the Control Panel | Uninstall Program. Do you see anything with the Pen Tablet?
Click on the link in the upper left installed updates. Do you see anything with the Pen Tablet or anything with Pen?

Click on the Start button and right click on Computer and select Properities. Under System do you have a value called Pen and Touch. Does the value show “Pen Input Available”.

I, too, couldn’t get my TC1100’s display to return after Standby (“Sleep”), and the instructions here and at http://mobilepcwiki.com/mpc/index.php?title=HP/TC1100/Windows_7_Installation_Notes were not clear enough for me. I had installed sp27014–the HP video driver–but it took me a while to figure out that I needed to also find Nvidia’s Forceware 82.12 package. As of today that package is freely available at http://www.filehippo.com/download_nvidia_forceware_xp/680
Extract its contents, then replace the two files from “fix.zip” (link is in the Wiki article), set compatibility mode and install. After restart, no more problem resuming from Standby. BTW, the fix.zip files are necessary to modify the 82.12 package’s .inf file so it will install against the TC1100’s video adapter.

Heeey, i know this topic is ‘closed’, but i have problems with the instalation of sp24241 from HP :(
The icons from the left side in the screen doesnt works x_x
Im using windows 7 professional 32 bits and Im doing the install after putting in the compatibility mode (Windows XP SP2).
Im using in the other Tablet (same model) Windows XP Tablet Edition and it works well.
How can I do that???

Still with the same problem… :(
Neither the SP27014 works on compatibility mode.
I’m from Brazil and I believe these drivers will not work with my portuguese software.
Instead, i’ve put all the icons from Tablet Menu on screen.
It takes some time to double click them, but it works well (laughs).
I’ve aprecciate very much your blog.
Very helpful hints!
Thank’s for all the help!!!

Ivan,
Not sure if the language is the problem. I have installed W7 on multiple Tablets and have not run into a problem with the buttons not working. Wish I knew of something else to try. Sorry.
Cameron

Calvin,
Wow! I have not heard of any problems with the keyboard. Huh… Truly weird… Did the keyboard worked in XP? I don’t know of any drivers for the keyboard besides the BIOS update, but I don’t know if that would be what you are talking about with the floppy.

I really don’t know what else to check. Does the stylus work? What about in the Device Manager, do you see any missing devices?

I really love Windows 7 on the TC1100. This is really such a great device with Windows 7 on it. I recall having this issue before. Try to uninstall the Wacom Pen Driver and install the default HP TC1100 driver.

Hey Cameron I really need help rebuilding my Hp Compaq tc1100, I need to install any kind of windows on it, I’ve tried windows 7 with no sucess trying to find the drivers for it, I tried XP SP3 with no luck finding neither the Pen driver nor the Keyboard one. Would you please help me out I need to get this PC running as soon as posible in order to use it for college!!

As a note I tried all the drivers on HP.com running them under the compability mode (XP SP2) but they didnt work either, the keyboard is still the big issue, I might want to install 7 on it again and try the drivers again but its takes a while to rebuild it, I really need your help, I’ve tried everything, I’m tired out and wouldn’t want my hopes to use this PC to be devasted due to a simple drivers problem.

What version of W7? Has to be Home Premium, Pro, or Ultimate. W7 Basic does not have the stylus support. Also, I believe that it must be Windows XP Tablet edition and not XP Home or Pro. I don’t believe those have the stylus support, forgive me, its been a long time, trying to remember that.

It should automatically have basic pen and keyboard support with the basic install of W7. Hmmm…
What is missing in the Device Manger?
Did the pen and keyboard work before you install W7?
Are you getting any lights on the keyboard, cap locks?
Try disconnecting the keyboard and reconnecting it, run a hardware scan in device manager to see if it comes back.

Hello. I’ve installed win7 on my TC1100, everything works fine except the trackpoint. I don’t know did it work before or not – the installation was faulty. the previous owner says that it was in working condition before. Must it work immediately after installing? Any idea? Thanks in advance.